NHL 2013-2014: Islanders sold, Wang stops losing money, on to the next save-all

So does that make Scrivens the Oilers starter? Man, that team.

Fastmav347 wrote:

Does Minnesota actually need a goalie?

Kind of. I wouldn't be surprised if Harding is done for the year while they work on his meds and Backstrom has nagging injury issues. Kuemper has been doing well but I'm sure they don't want to rely on him.

Wow, Luongo traded to Florida for Jacob Markstrom and another player. And with that trade the Canucks' contending window slams shut and all seven Canadian franchises are now bad.

Roke wrote:

Wow, Luongo traded to Florida for Jacob Markstrom and another player. And with that trade the Canucks' contending window slams shut and all seven Canadian franchises are now bad.

Luongo wasn't the starter anyway. Their window is shutting because everyone but Kesler has regressed and Kesler wants out. I said shutting because it's about 50/50 they can retool and come back strong.

Vector wrote:
Roke wrote:

Wow, Luongo traded to Florida for Jacob Markstrom and another player. And with that trade the Canucks' contending window slams shut and all seven Canadian franchises are now bad.

Luongo wasn't the starter anyway. Their window is shutting because everyone but Kesler has regressed and Kesler wants out. I said shutting because it's about 50/50 they can retool and come back strong.

I agree the core getting old and declining is definitely the reason their window was closing, but going with a pair of goalies with 68 NHL games between them puts an end to them contending until one of them establishes themselves. With goaltending basically being voodoo it's possible that neither is actually an average NHL starter.

I don't see them capable of a quick retool though. There are a lot of players in their late 20s and 30s and those guys are only going to decline. Tanev's one of the few core-types under 25.

Roke wrote:

all seven Canadian franchises are now bad.

3rd in the east is bad now?

GrandmaFunk wrote:
Roke wrote:

all seven Canadian franchises are now bad.

3rd in the east is bad now?

Montreal's been bad since the beginning of November, riding unsustainable goaltending and the East generally being terrible. 25th in the league in Fenwick Close%,the worst or 2nd-worst coach in the NHL in Michel Therrien (it's him or Carlyle), and one of the worst General Managers in the league in Marc Bergevin (Definitely bottom-5, I'd say 2nd-worst since Nonis is King there).

They look good in the standings thanks to a career year by Carey Price but the underlying structure is all rotten.

If they get a competent coach and a new GM it's fairly easy to fix - after all, the team was excellent last year. Therrien changed tactics to chip-it-out/dump-and-chase while Bergevin made the team worse in the summer by bringing in Briere, Murray, and Parros to replace Ryder, Armstrong, and Halpern. It would be easy to fix the team's ills - the talent is generally there and they only need complimentary pieces, but that would need a new coach and a good General Manager and while the former might happen, the latter is 3+ years away. Montreal might become a contender two years after Bergevin gets fired, assuming he doesn't do any long-term damage.

Basically the Habs are everything I feared they'd be when Marc Bergevin with his inexperience and no education was brought in and he hired Michel Therrien. The mystery is how Therrien managed to be a good coach last year while every other year of his track record (including this year) has been terrible.

yaa... I'm done with this thread.

GrandmaFunk wrote:

yaa... I'm done with this thread.

You could, like, substantiate how he's wrong instead of flouncing off. But doing so is made more difficult because he's not. Like in many years, Montreal is a paper tiger team: beats up on bad teams (sometimes), gets whacked by good teams (a lot). The only reason--like, people say "the only reason" a lot, but this is one of those cases where it's actually warranted--they're where they are is because Price has been Vezina-good behind a Swiss cheese defense. Golden horseshoes like the one Price is carrying around lend themselves remarkably well to regressions. But even if he doesn't, their defense isn't great shakes and that's not going to ball in the playoffs when every team is playing dump-and-chase with the tall-enough-to-ride-roller-coasters forwards that are in vogue in English-speaking hockey lands.

And as Roke noted, their offense can't shoot. They cannot generate shots (25th in FF close/19th in FA close, 19th in FF overall/23rd in FA overall) and when you cannot generate shots you cannot score goals. There are no Western Conference playoff teams more unable to generate shots than Montreal and the only Eastern Conference team more offensively decrepit is Toronto. That's so unshooty that Orkz would accuse them of muckin' about.

I say this with admittedly some glee because I subscribe to the You Don't Even Remember '93, Annikin Slayd school of hockey, but there's just not a lot to merit optimism for with that team except the standings in a graveyard conference.

Ed Ropple wrote:
GrandmaFunk wrote:

yaa... I'm done with this thread.

You could, like, substantiate how he's wrong instead of flouncing off. But doing so is made more difficult because he's not. Like in many years, Montreal is a paper tiger team: beats up on bad teams (sometimes), gets whacked by good teams (a lot). The only reason--like, people say "the only reason" a lot, but this is one of those cases where it's actually warranted--they're where they are is because Price has been Vezina-good behind a Swiss cheese defense. Golden horseshoes like the one Price is carrying around lend themselves remarkably well to regressions. But even if he doesn't, their defense isn't great shakes and that's not going to ball in the playoffs when every team is playing dump-and-chase with the tall-enough-to-ride-roller-coasters forwards that are in vogue in English-speaking hockey lands.

And as Roke noted, their offense can't shoot. They cannot generate shots (25th in FF close/19th in FA close, 19th in FF overall/23rd in FA overall) and when you cannot generate shots you cannot score goals. There are no Western Conference playoff teams more unable to generate shots than Montreal and the only Eastern Conference team more offensively decrepit is Toronto. That's so unshooty that Orkz would accuse them of muckin' about.

The thing is they were genuinely good, just on the outside of contending last season. Great at driving play even-strength, good on the powerplay, a bit poor on the penalty kill though that was more goaltending fluctuation than anything. They ran into a hot goaltender in the first round and were out, but that happens as Washington and Pittsburgh can attest in 2009-10.

Maintaining their style of play and tactics and a couple of good pieces (which were cheaply available as free agents in MacArthur and Gilbert) and the team would have been a contender this year. Instead they went back to Therrien's traditional tactics, added arguably the worst defenseman in the league in Murray, and things have gone down the toilet. It hasn't shown up in the standings yet because of tremendous goaltending and the East being weak but eventually the poor underlying play will catch up to them.

Living in Montreal the past 2 years I've come to a conclusion.

The Canadians are potentially plagued by the same stink the province is.

French. Unless there's consistently top 5 coaches and GM's who are French speaking they are doomed to employ mediocre management.

Anddddd being from Ottawa

Buyer's market for the trade deadline and a lot of teams made some good trades to bring in some really good players. Compare what was given up for 1st-line players to what Pittsburgh traded for Douglas Murray last year and it's quite the change.

I'm fairly happy about the Wild picking up Moulson for a couple 2nds. Unfortunately unless Colorado goes into a tailspin we're still likely facing the Ducks or Blues first round which aren't matchups I'm much encouraged by. Even if the Avs do conveniently slide I'm not sure the Hawks would be much better, though we do seem to play them fairly close at least and it seems like a better chance.

Anyway, can't blame 'em for giving it a go when the price was low enough to justify it. Would be real nice to win a playoff series for once; it feels like it's been forever.

I am not sure how I should feel about David Legwand trade, to me it seems we payed to high of a price for a rental, but on other hand we really need a center right now.

Happy with the Callahan-St. Louis trade. 2x Art Ross, perennial All Star, games top points scorer over the past 4 years for an overpriced 3rd liner, a high draft pick in 2015, and a second rounder in 2014.

Considering the Rangers have the defense and goaltending, the only missing pieces were up front and St. Louis gives them that.

Outlandish wrote:

Even if the Avs do conveniently slide...

You shut your filthy mouth.

I love what Tim Murray is doing with the Sabres. Stockpiling picks and prospects in an effort to make the team good in 2-3 years is what needed to happen with this team. They will probably have 9 first round picks in 4 years (depending on what happens with Miller and the Blues), and they have a bushel full of second round picks as well. The Vanek return ended up being a first and three second round picks, which is more than anyone else got yesterday.

What is happening in Vancouver. The ship is sinking. The Islanders scored 7 goals on them in the third period, just crazy.

Holy sh*t, Rich Peverly. It's one thing to see a guy go down after a hit/injury on the ice, but a guy just collapsing next to you on the bench has got to shake you up bad. They ended up postponing the game, which was probably the right decision given the nature of the event. He's probably got some serious career thinking to do, too, considering things seem to be aggravated for him this past year.

imbiginjapan wrote:

Holy sh*t, Rich Peverly. It's one thing to see a guy go down after a hit/injury on the ice, but a guy just collapsing next to you on the bench has got to shake you up bad. They ended up postponing the game, which was probably the right decision given the nature of the event.

Yeah, I heard about this on the way to work. It sounds like the whole bench just went nuts trying to get some medical attention over there. Eventually they just had guys jumping on the ice to get the play stopped.

Sounds like Peverly ended up coming out of it okay, but damn what a scary moment.

nihilo wrote:

What is happening in Vancouver. The ship is sinking. The Islanders scored 7 goals on them in the third period, just crazy.

Funny play by play comment made during the Bruins/Panthers game.

- "And Luongo, back with the Panthers. He must feel like a juggling pin at a circus show."
- "I thought he just left the circus."

Geez fellas, link some video.

Peverly was treated for a cardiac even. Seems Peverly has a pre-existing condition according to Dr. Gil Salazar. ‘‘We monitor him closely for a different type of arrhythmia he has,’’ Salazar said. ‘‘He does have a pre-existing condition, and the condition — a normal quivering of the heart that does not allow him to send blood to places where he needs to, in his brain and heart.’’

Scary stuff. I can't help but think he shouldn't be playing hockey. He may not be so lucky next time.

Eh, I didn't really feel right linking/looking up the video as I didn't want to see a guy collapsing from heart failure on camera.

But yeah, it seems like he shouldn't have been playing in the first place. Jiri Fischer had a similar problem and promptly retired once his diagnosis came through. Maybe this incident will change Peverley's mind.

There's not enough info on the kind of arrhythmia he has, but some types are generally more manageable. I have a similar arrhythmia brought about by stress. It's easy to stop it if I sit down and do a modified Valsalva maneuver. Sports-wise it interfered with long distance running events because I had to stop and rest within 10 minutes of when the arrhythmia occurred; However, I was able to participate in shorter distance, high intensity track and field events just fine. I've only passed out once because of it. That was when performing the Valsalva maneuver after a three mile run. It worked, but slowed my heart a bit too much and bam... I was out. My heart has never stopped beating because of it though. I expect he'll call it quits after this incident.

Man, I love and hate Bob all at once. I think he's my favorite goaltender to watch right now but it'd be nice to get just one more by him for once. Now I want CBJ back in the west, as that game vs Minny tonight was fantastically fun to watch.

Blues lose Tarasenko to hand injury

The Blues have lost forward Vladimir Tarasenko for at least six weeks with a right-hand injury, the team confirmed late Sunday afternoon. Tarasenko will undergo surgery Wednesday and be re-evaluated after the six-week period.

He will be out for the remainder of the regular season and it appears the team would have to go deep into the playoffs for Tarasenko to have a chance to return.

Wings/Pens... wow what a game

Hemsky scores an absolute beauty goal but it gets buried in another Sens collapse.

I'm fine with this team flaming out and coming back next year with their heads screwed on.

Its really not as dire as the Toronto and Montreal fans try to make it out as.

jowner wrote:

Hemsky scores an absolute beauty goal but it gets buried in another Sens collapse.

I'm fine with this team flaming out and coming back next year with their heads screwed on.

Its really not as dire as the Toronto and Montreal fans try to make it out as.

The first couple of years it was that way for me. Now the Canes are set to have their fifth year in a row playing golf. It's not fine anymore.

LouZiffer wrote:
jowner wrote:

Hemsky scores an absolute beauty goal but it gets buried in another Sens collapse.

I'm fine with this team flaming out and coming back next year with their heads screwed on.

Its really not as dire as the Toronto and Montreal fans try to make it out as.

The first couple of years it was that way for me. Now the Canes are set to have their fifth year in a row playing golf. It's not fine anymore.

And yea as a Canes fan you shouldn't be.

I loaded up on Canes this year in my hockey pool as thats how the players fell to me and wow has it been a bad year for them.

Just saw a tweet via Darren Dreger that Ward is most likely gone this offseason and guys like E.Staal and Skinner might even be in play.